The Cost of Salvation
What started as a short hike for Harry, 69, turned out to be a harrowing experience. Unaware that he made a wrong turn on a trail, the Roseburg resident soon discovered that he was lost. Planning to return to his car in less than an hour, he didn’t bring along his jacket, compass, map, or water bottle. There was no cell service in the area. It was almost dark in early May.
“I took a deep breath and told myself to stay calm,” he said.
When he didn’t return home after two nights, his wife, Stacy, got desperate and called the Douglas County Sheriff Office. That’s when a team for the department set out to find him, including a plane and a helicopter. He was not easy to discover since he moved from his original spot, trying unsuccessfully to find his way out of the woods.
As days passed, he survived by drinking water pooled in a tree trunk, and by eating grubs, millipedes, termites, scorpions, a crawfish and a big snail. A weight loss diet, to be sure – it lost him 28 pounds.
Meanwhile, deputy sheriff, David Duke, and the other rescue team members, persisted in their relentless search. A tackle box was found and confirmed to be Harry’s. It was a sign of hope, but Harry was still nowhere in sight.
By his 17th day in the wilderness, Harry was dehydrated, malnourished, suffering hypothermia, feet swollen “like two big footballs,” and totally wiped-out. But he was still alive.
That is when he heard a sound of a fellow human bellowing in the distance. Soon four team members reached him. Later that day, a phone call from the sheriff’s office to Stacy, brought tears of joy to her eyes.
After two weeks in the PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend, Harry finally returned home.
Nobody knows the total cost of this rescue, but for Stacy, Harry, and their loved ones, the price paid by the rescuers was worth it.
A price has been paid for our salvation – the precious blood of Christ. And God is on a search for us. Jesus said, “..the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19.10).
By Barry Kimbrough, pastor, Gold Beach, Brookings and Cave Junction Seventh-day Adventist Churches
Source:
https://www.nrtoday.com/news/public_safety/harry-burleigh-describes-how-he-survived-17-days
-in-the-wilderness/article_92060eb6-0790-513e-9633-904d2ba6a891.html